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Product Description

Looking for ten minutes of fun?

Try Cranium Zigity, the quick card game filled with crazy twists and a fun mix of activities. With Zigity, you'll play sets of cards that add to 11, spell a word, complete the puzzle, or match musical instruments in a race to get rid of all your cards. Think you're about to win? Watch out! Action cards can change the game in a flash.

Fast-paced and full of surprises, Cranium Zigity is the perfect game to bring on a trip or pull out whenever you need a quick burst of fun with family and friends.

Product Reviews

Our kids, ages 7 and 9, quickly learned this game after
playing a
round. Our 5-year-old also played, but needed assistance
when he
was required to create a word. It requires thinking, but we
had lots of
fun doing it. Mom played with them, but I'm sure the 9 and
7 year
olds can play without an adult once they are comfortable.
We have
Cranium Family
Fun, Hullabaloo and this game, they all seem to have
a common thread, but are different from each other. Zigity
is a sit
down card game, no physical activity for this one, just
brain power.
We found our 7 and 9 year olds teaching our 5 year old when
he didn't
understand.

by
A Gamer

Uno meets Scrabble meets Rummy meets Cranium

July 10, 2005

I worry about the 4 rating, depending who is
reading this. For a serious game, look elsewhere.

For a quick to learn luck and skill alike card
game to play with friends or family, this one is
very good. I've played both with my immediate
family (who are "Okay, we'll play, but make it
quick.") and relatives who are fairly serious and
competitive with their games. The game has gone
over well with both groups.

Comparisons with Uno are obvious. Similar to Uno,
the object is to play the cards in your hand to
match what is on top of the pile. Going out wins.
There are special cards to make the next player
draw, a reverse direction of play type card and a
card that allows you to dodge the effect of the
previous card.

The trick is in the matching. Most of the cards
are matching cards that require the next player to
either 1) spell a word, 2) add up to 11, 3) put
together a three part puzzle, 4) or match a
picture of a musical instrument (these correspond
to the four actions in Cramium, and use the same
cute characters).

The center of the faceup card specifies which of
the 4 actions is required of the next player.
Each matching card also has a letter, a number,
puzzle piece and instrument to use in a match.
Unlike Uno, you will generally play more than one
card to make the match. So someone might pull a
Scrabble-like match, spell a long word and go out
with several cards left in their hand. You can not
only complete the 3 part puzzle, but play an
addtional 3 matching puzzle cards if you have them
in your hand. You might get lucky and have three
drums to match the musical instrument. There is
also a free card that can be used as a wild card
in any match.

This gives some extra strategy to the play. Which
cards do you choose to add up to make 11? What
word do you spell? Use the free card now, or hold
it to spell a longer word later? The next player
might go out, even if they have several cards
remaining. You may want to use cards in your
match that leave you the best chance for future
matches. This might even mean not trying to use
the maximum number of cards.

Also, since most matches require more than one
card, you determine the next player's match by the
card you leave on top. For example, if the next
player has only one card left, you might place a
puzzle piece match on top as you add up to 11, as
this will require 2 cards to finish the match.

If you can't make a match, you draw only one card
and your turn ends, rather than drawing until you
get the match like Uno.

There is a large amount of luck. The draw,
reverse, and dodge cards can be played at almost
any time, and the free card makes matching much
easier. Get dealt an initial hand with several of
these special cards, and you stand a much better
chance of winning. Generally, I feel it is best
to hold these cards until you get rid of the
matching cards, then play the special cards to go
out.

One Uno veteran wanted to have scoring rather than
simply the winner is the one who goes out first.
We didn't try it, but a house rule might be like this:
-5 for each card beyond one card used to go out
for the winner (or +5 to everyone else),
+1 for each matching card left in the hand,
+5 for each free and special card left in the
hand. Play to something like lowest score wins
when someone hits 50 or 100 points (kind of like
Hearts). This makes it more dangerous to hold on
to free and special cards, gives a bonus for going
out with a lot of cards at once, but gives a steep
penalty if holding on to cards backfires.

Our 10 year old had no trouble with the rules,
though he will probably need more practice to be
good at spelling long words from the mixed up
letters. Hardcores might want to use Scrabble
type challenge rules on the spelling matches; we
just said try again. Heck, it's a family game.
If you have a slowpoke, especially on the
spelling matches, you might want to threaten a
time limit or draw a card.

Overall, Zigity is cute, doesn't tax your brain
too much, has enough luck so everyone has a chance
to win, but enough skill so the better players
will win more in the long run (and thusly massage
their egos). Each hand takes about 10 minutes.
It is a nice variation in the "play all your cards
until you go out class" of games and well worth
the low price.

Other Resources for Zigity:

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